


Like an Opossum

by MillionDollarTeddyBear



Series: Awkward Arthur & Marvelous Merlin: A Teenage Romance [1]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Awkward Crush, Crushes, M/M, Morgana's Meddling, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-06-05 21:07:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15179432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MillionDollarTeddyBear/pseuds/MillionDollarTeddyBear
Summary: Arthur Pendragon is hopelessly in love with Merlin Emrys and is near giving up after a series of failed attempts to approach him.Enter Morgana, with her scheming smirk: "You freeze up around him, it's like your an opossum".(-High school/Modern/Teenagers-)●Unbeta'd





	Like an Opossum

"Arthur, I love seeing you humiliate yourself but honestly, this has gotten out of hand", proclaimed Morgana as she entered her brother's room. 

Dressed in a grey turtleneck, tailored black jeans and her hair pulled back away from her face she looked more like a pretentious museum curator than his seventeen-year-old student sister, he thought as he looked up to see her at the doorway. 

He'd been engrossed in the busying activity of wallowing in pity and self-depreciation, head in his hands and seated in the middle of his bed. "What do you want now, Gana?", he groaned out, looking at her with a look that read something along the lines of 'I'm so miserable already, please don't add to it'. 

She made a loud scoffing sound and sauntered over to the bed, perching herself at the end of the bed. "I'm talking about the absolute mess that you were today when you went over to talk to Merlin", she explained, giving him an exasperated, though fond, look.   
  
Just hearing his name had Arthur's heart fluttering.   
  
Merlin Emrys. With a head of dark hair, round glasses that he was basically blind without, long limbs, the most gorgeous blue eyes that had ever existed. A small smile and a brilliant mind who led their school's robotics team to become national champions and they won silver at the World Robotics Olympiad in Costa Rica, with a nervous laugh and a slightly awkward demeanor.  
  
Arthur had fallen hard for the dark haired teen and had spent some great amount of time staring with heart eyes at the picture taken in Costa Rica of the team, Merlin in the center beside Professor Gaius. A wide smile on his face, the largest smile Arthur had personally ever seen on the tall object of his affections. He looked so happy, so handsome, and Arthur had been quite awful at hiding his staring at the newspaper clipping that he had posted to his wall.   
  
"Morgana, I don't want to talk about it", he muttered out as he fell back against the bed, grabbing a fluffed pillow and covering his face with it, hoping that his sister would have mercy on him and leave him alone.  
  
It seems he isn't as fortunate since Morgana yanks the pillow away. "Arthur, what the hell happened?", she cried out, staring at him and waiting for an answer as if she hadn't gotten a text message from Gwaine some twenty minutes ago about the situation. A five-minute-long video that Gwaine had "discreetly" taken (as in, not discreetly at all) was attached of Arthur leaving his table at the cafeteria with the rest of his mates and going over to where Merlin was seated with his friends. Gwaine had rushed over, sat down on the table next to Merlin's and had filmed Arthur's pathetic battle against his tongue and the English language as he spluttered out nonsensical things to Merlin. The brunet in question is just ended up frowning and asking, sounding concerned, "I'm sorry, are you feeling well?", and as a hand reached over to feel Arthur's forehead, her brother had rushed off.   
  
The video was five minutes long and it had taken Morgana another fifteen to come over to her brother's bedroom mainly because she was quite literally on the floor, lying on a plush rug as she cackled and laughed, replaying the video again and again.   
  
Arthur sighed and shook his head. "I don't know, it's just, whenever I go to talk to him I just freeze up", he pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes and groaned out before continuing, "I end up looking so bloody stupid".   
  
She couldn't deny that. This was just the latest in a stream of attempts by her idiot brother to approach Merlin and as with the others, he had failed spectacularly.   
  
"He's just so beautiful and perfect", Arthur murmured, pouting slightly as his eyes met hers. 

Morgana shrugged in response. She had eyes, and could clearly see that Merlin was a good looking bloke what with his bright blue eyes that have that Mona Lisa quality that makes it seem like he's looking straight into the far-off horizon but also directly at you, with his artful mess of hair and his nice smile. The Pendragon girl also knew he was a darling, with a heart of gold and a biting sense of humor. She easily saw the appeal.   
  
"That he is", she agreed, nodding, "But you've got to grow a proper pair and talk to him, you absolute idiot".   
  
He only groaned in response, wildly shaking his head at the thought of approaching Merlin again. The dark haired teen must think that Arthur is some stupid fool who can't even talk properly after the series of failed attempts to engage with him.   
  
"I can't, Morgana", he ended up sputtering out, "He already probably thinks I'm an idiot and I can't risk going up to him and making a fool of myself again!", he cried out in an exasperated tone.   
  
Shaking her head at the sight of her brother covering his face with another pillow, Morgana let out a deep sigh. "Just try, one more time", she replied, a hand reaching out to softly pat at his leg, the most affectionate gesture he was going to be getting from her for now.   
  
Standing up, she gave him a small wave even though he couldn't see her. "I'm going out with Leon, we're headed to that new History of Celtic Medicine exhibit that opened up yesterday", she informed him, leaning against the doorframe for a moment, "See you when I get back".   
  
Morgana shut his bedroom door behind her as she made her way back to her bedroom. Sure, she was going out, but not before she made a phone call to a certain someone.   
  
She really couldn't stand to see her brother be such an idiot any longer. 

 

_♢♢♢_

 

"You were such a mess, mate", laughed Gwaine loudly as he took a seat beside Arthur at their table during lunch.   
  
Lancelot let out a tsking sound, "Don't be boorish, Gwaine", he admonished, albeit attempting, and failing, to stifle a small laugh. Mithian, sitting beside him, was also struggling to not let out a small chuckle.  
  
Arthur rolled his eyes playfully. His friends knew about his crush on Merlin since forever, even before _he'd_ realized it they would remark. While they were the first to encourage him to go for it and go over to say something to Merlin, they were also the first to send waves of teasing remarks his way when he inevitably failed and ended up a blubbering mess.   
  
Leon spoke next, running a hand through his sunny, curly hair, "Though really mate, you've got to stop freezing up around the guy", he shook his head softly, "What's the worst that could happen? ".   
  
Arthur let out a small groan and Gwaine laughed. "He could not like our dear princess and then his fragile ego would be dealt a killing blow", the long-haired guy explained, receiving a small smack on the arm by his boyfriend Percival.   
  
Morgana, who was seated to Arthur's right, was picking at her salad, albeit much more engrossed in the conversation being had than in the richly green spinach leaves. "Honestly brother, you shouldn't be so afraid, Merlin is such a darling", she commented, raising a hand to give him a hard flick on the nose when he turned to look at her.   
  
"God, Morgana! ", he yowled though saw his friends all nodding in agreement to what she had said. 

When they'd learned of Arthur's crush on the dark-haired Emrys boy they had decided that maybe they could serve as wingmen to the useless blond. So, they'd approached him at different points, striking up conversations with their glasses-wearing classmate.

Gwaine had been the first one to do so, proclaiming in the locker room after footie practice that since it was his idea that he should go first. He'd succeeded in flirting up a storm when he'd struck up a conversation in the halls with Merlin, enjoying the rosy blush that colored the fair-skinned boy's cheeks and was pleasantly surprised when Merlin proved to have quips and remarks of his own. They had ended up becoming friends with one another and Arthur had frustratedly proclaimed,"Gwaine you were supposed to get information, not try to get into his pants", to which the chestnut-haired flirt shot back, "Right, that's your thing". Gwaine had actually been quite charmed by the Emrys boy who had agreed when he'd asked if he could tutor him in French, and a friendship was born. 

Then it had been Lancelot, who Arthur pleaded to please just get some information on Merlin and what he thought about him. He'd approached him during History, seating himself at the desk next to Merlin instead of his normal seat two rows back, and after striking up a conversation with the guy he'd quickly learned that Merlin was awful at History though had a great love for period dramas. Downton Abbey had been their jam, and Lancelot had happily accepted an invite to Merlin's house to re-watch some seasons that Merlin owned in a boxed set. 

Arthur was particularly peeved at Percival. The hulking striker had approached Merlin, and somehow their conversation had wound up on the topic of fitness and the gym. Percy, the loveable giant that he was, had offered to guide Merlin through working out if he wanted, and they two had started going twice-weekly to the gym together. Arthur had proclaimed that he wouldn't attend Percy's funeral when, some months later, Merlin was looking close to edible with a trimmer waist, more developed biceps, and the kyanite colored shirts that the robotics team wore strained slightly along his arms and his chest. 

Then Leon had gone up to him, the day that the robotics team had come back after a gold-winning trip to Brussels for a continent-wide competition. He'd congratulated him, clapping a hand on Merlin's back and had earned himself a bright smile from him, and they'd struck up a conversation. Leon had learned that Merlin was a fledgling fencer, and had offered to help him out, and so they had started having training sessions and Leon was truly happy to see that Merlin's ability with a sabre had improved greatly. They became good friends, and Arthur had smacked his hand against his forehead and groaned out when Leon had canceled an outing to the movies with him, rambling on that they were meeting Laurence Halsted together. 

Arthur couldn't begin to deal with how his friends had all gotten close to Merlin before he had. Though, it was more testament that Merlin was a great guy from everything he'd heard from his mates. 

"You freeze up around him, it's like you're an opossum", scoffed Morgana, shaking her head as she speared a cherry tomato. 

The golden-haired man shook his head at the comparison to the marsupial. "I've decided to stop humiliating myself by going up to him", Arthur declared, "It's obviously just made me look like a-"

"Bafoon", Morgana supplied. 

"Idiot", offered Elena.

"Mess", added Leon. 

Lancelot laughed and upbraided, "Not helping, guys". 

"At least Lance is on my side", Arthur sighed, gesturing dramatically to the midfielder that sat opposite him. 

"I mean sure, but admittedly you do look like a spluttering mess when you talk to him, Arthur", shrugged Lancelot. 

"He's a great guy, there's nothing to be afraid of", chimed in Elena, continuing, "If you managed to stop making a fool of yourself than he'd probably take you up on an offer for a date or something".

Morgana rebutted, "Merlin is _way_ too good for Arthur, but he'd probably be a dear and let you down easily". 

Arthur rolled his eyes at his sister's words as Gwaine frowned, "What's that smirk, Gana?", pointing his plastic fork at her in an accusatory jab.

"Ooh, that's her scheming smirk", chuckled Mithian.

Before Arthur could tell his sister that he didn't want any of her silly and awful schemes she opened her mouth and replied. "I have no idea what you are accusing me of, none at all", and then she turned to look at Arthur, her mouth in that smirk that they'd come to identify to be the one that accompanied her scheming and wild plans. 

Scoffing and shaking his head quickly he pointed at her with his plastic fork in the same accusing and jabbing fashion that Gwaine had earlier. Then he quickly said to her in an admonishing tone, "Stop, no, no, whatever stupid plan you have thought up to get me to go over there with him, no", he shook his head again. 

Huffing a bit he added, not realizing that everyone at the table has gone silent, "And that's the _end_ of that, so you should probably shut down your plans before you get them rolling, Morgana".

Arthur still was none the wiser to everyone having gone silent at the table, not seeing the wide eyes that Lancelot is bearing or the shocked slack jaw expression on Gwaine's face either by the end of his words to his sister.

When he felt a small tap on his left shoulder he turned around, scowling and loudly scoffing out an aggravated, "What?". 

Arthur wanted to stab his stupid cafeteria plastic fork into his jugular when the second he finished saying that rude "what" he saw that it's blue eyes, a messy head of ink-colored hair and a small, endearingly crooked smile that he's seeing now. In other words, it's Merlin. 

"Oh, sorry", Merlin quickly said, putting his hands in front of him in a signal of his innocence. Blush is pooling at his cheeks, a rosy red spreading along his neck too, "I didn't mean to interrupt anything". 

The blond man nodded slightly. "Yeah, no, no worries", he spluttered out in a slightly higher pitched voice. He cleared his throat for a moment, adding quickly, albeit his voice still wavering, "You weren't, no, I was just talking, talking with my...", and his voice trails off because _God_ , Merlin's eyes looked like they had the infinite sky in them, such a beautiful blue color. 

Merlin nodded slightly, "Yeah, alright", and Arthur could feel his face heat up when he realized that he probably spaced out for a moment and was most likely just staring openly at Merlin. 

"So, I wanted to ask you something, Arthur Pendragon", Merlin spoke, bringing Arthur out of his mental limbo of thinking of the color and beauty of the darker haired boy's eyes. His own eyes widen slightly when he heard the Emrys boy say his name and God be damned because it's just his name and yet coming from Merlin it sounds so otherworldly amazing. 

Clearing his throat and clasping his hands behind his back Merlin proceeded, looking directly at Arthur when he asked, "Would you like to go out with this Friday?". 

Arthur swore that everything stood still for a moment. 

"Wha-what", Arthur blurted out, his eyes widening impossibly like saucers, "Wait, w-what", and he flailed his hands because no, he had a mortal aneurysm and this was his pre-death fantasy, a beautiful scenario his mind conjured in the final seconds before he died, because this wasn't happening. It _couldn't_ be happening. 

Merlin's soft chuckle, which sounded like divine bells jingling in some celestial choir, was what brought him back. That, and the sharp jab at his ribs from Morgana, a piercing poke with the tines of her fork that spear at his side that had him quickly blinking a few times. 

"Just what I said, I want to know if you'd like to go out with me this Friday", Merlin chuckled softly, the pink returning to his cheeks and a hand moving to awkwardly rub at the back of his neck.

Arthur was gaping like a goldfish in its bowl. This _was_ happening, it was a reality, and what was happening was Merlin asking him out on a date two days from then. 

A wide grin, one that everyone would go on to say was the largest and brightest they'd ever seen on him, spread along his pink lips. He nodded, nodded quickly and enthusiastically as if there were a time limit on the offer and he broke out in a small laugh, "Yes, _yes_ , I'd love to, yes!", he beamed. 

Merlin sent him a fond look (and Arthur's heart fluttered for a while) and he extended his hand. The blond had thought he wanted to shake hands as if it was some sort of deal but realized he was handing him a slip of paper. Taking it and unfolding it he saw it was a series of numbers in a jagged and angular scrawl. 

"It's my number so we can text and set everything up, the place, time, all of that", Merlin explained, smiling radiantly. 

"That's..", Arthur started, just nodding dumbly and staring at the numbers written down, seeing how the circle of his six was very triangular, how despite the angular and harsh scrawl his two had a nice little swoop at the bottom, looking more calligraphic. "That's great", he finally said, looking up and being met with a pink-cheeked Merlin. 

"I just want to add that I found all your failed attempts to come and talk to me to be quite endearing and nice", Merlin elaborated, and Arthur could feel the red heat rush to his cheeks at the mention of his less-than-satisfactory results when it came to talking to Merlin. 

"And though I found them quite sweet and funny", Merlin continued, "I was alerted to the fact by a certain someone that you were beating yourself up about all of it, so I decided it might work better if _I'd_ come up to _you_ ", he finished, a bashful expression on his face. 

"Anyways, I hope to hear from you Arthur Pendragon", Merlin quickly said, giving him a slight wave and taking a step back. Though, he quickly took some two steps forward and pressed a small peck to Arthur's cheek, before rushing off. Arthur's wide eyes followed his figure as he arrived at the table with his friends and robotics teammates, who erupted into cheers and excited shouts when he arrived at the table. 

Turning around, eyes still wide and looking gobsmacked he was met with equal rowdy shouts and cheers. 

"Fucking _finally_!", cheered Gwaine. 

Percival did a fist pump into the air and Lancelot was clapping with his head thrown back in a loud laugh. Elena and Leon high fived.

"Looks like you have plans for Friday, dear brother", Morgana smiled, sending him a pointed look as she ate some spinach. 

He nodded, laughing a bit as well, "Sure does look like it, right?". 

 

_♢♢♢_

 

It wouldn't be until around two a.m. and after hours of analyzing every single word that Merlin had said to him (and some hours of texting with the dark-haired angelic man too), that he realized something that Merlin had said. 

"Morgana, you're the one who told Merlin about everything, right?",  proclaimed Arthur as he threw open the door of his sister's bedroom.  
  
His sister sat up, her sheets pooling at her waist and her silky pyjamas looked slightly rumpled in the little amount of light that filtered in through the open door from the hallway.  
  
"Arthur its two a.m. and I'm not going to be talking about my schemes", she snapped, chucking one of her Michael Aram pillows in his directions.  
  
He bolted quickly, shutting her door, "Thank you!", he cried out as he raced off.  
  
Morgana sighed, lifting a hand and mussing through her dark hair. She really was tired, and so she lay back, wrapping herself in her covers and making a caccoon  
  
She was tired, and more so exhausted at her brother's numerous failed attempts to approach Merlin.

She'd known she _had_ to do something.  


**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed reading this work, thank you and feel free to leave kudos and comments! :)


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